Bulletin Article: Marriage Is More than a Piece of Paper

Marriage Is More than a Piece of Paper

Some, even Christians, say marriage is just a piece of paper. What does the Bible say? When is sex fornication or adultery or a part of marriage? There must be something that makes a man and a woman married.

Interestingly, homosexuals do not believe marriage is just a piece of paper. They are fighting to get that piece of paper in every state of the union. They recognize that there is something that comes with that paper.

Ezekiel shows how God had married Israel,

“When I passed by you again and looked upon you, indeed your time was the time of love; so I spread My wing over you and covered your nakedness. Yes, I swore an oath to you and entered into a covenant with you, and you became Mine,” says the Lord GOD.

Since He is the Creator of marriage, is not what He has to say critical in determining what marriage is? God said to Israel that the way He married Israel was swearing an oath to the nation, and entering into a covenant with them. That is what the Old Testament was. Christ has made a covenant with His bride the church, and that is the New Testament. Would you say that the Old Testament with Israel and the New Testament with the church are just pieces of paper?

Those so-called pieces of paper, the marriage license and certificate that we use today are the same. It is saying that two people have made an oath (vows) to another and they have entered into a covenant to belong to one another, even as Israel became God’s.

Therefore, merely living together does not constitute marriage, but fornication. DR